School is almost out for the summer and parents everywhere are faced with the harsh reality that their ears will soon be subjected to round-the-clock, “I’m hungry,” and “Can I have a snack?” badgering. Gone is the convenience of packing a snack and a lunchbox in the morning (or the even bigger convenience of having your kid grab lunch at school). It’s all on you now, parents.
Thankfully, one mom’s viral TikTok plan for summertime eating might be the solution you didn’t even know you needed.
@alwayskayy__ With only about 15 days till summer break and as high as groceries are, I felt the need to reshare this. Lets get prepared mama’s! #summerbreak #summerlunches #kidssummeractivity ♬ original sound – AlwaysKay
“After school gets out on Friday, this is no longer the kitchen, this is the cafeteria,” TikTok user @alwayskayy__ explains to her kids in the viral video. May I just say, as a mom of four — goosebumps. Someone should embroider that and frame it.
To create a sense of order in your own household and keep the kids from constantly pestering you for food, here’s what you do, according to @alwayskayy__:
- Make a menu for the entire summer using a calendar, listing two breakfast options and two lunch options.
- Make the kids pick which option they want for each meal. NO SUBSTITUTIONS.
- They don’t like the options? They can argue with their grumbling bellies.
The TikToker also says she creates time slots for breakfast, lunch, and snack, with no exceptions, giving her kids an hour for each mealtime. If it’s not between 2 and 3 p.m., there is no snacking. My kids would call the police on me for that one, folks.
The savvy mom also tells her kids there won’t be any trips to Chick-fil-A (which was met with lots of groaning in the background), and she would instead serve “Mommy-fil-A” on Mondays, with chicken nuggets and Chick-fil-A sauce she promised to pick up from Publix.
She ended her video with “Any questions?” and we weren’t the slightest bit surprised none of her kids dared to say, “Can I have a snack?”
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